PAX 09: PSP Digital Comics

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Sony wants to put comic resellers out of business.

By Levi Buchanan

At its off-site suite at PAX this weekend, the Sony was showing off its new digital comics service for the PlayStation Portable (and assumedly, PSPgo). Set to go live in December with over 1,000 issues from a variety of publishers such as Marvel and IDW, the digital comics service could be a fresh way to avoid a trip to the comics store – plus undercut the lucrative back issue resale market since publishers can easily upload classic issues to the PlayStation Store and finally monetize back catalog content.

During my demo with the service, we thumbed through an issue of Spider-Man from a few years ago. There are a few ways to move through a comic. The service allows publishers to create their own narrative stream through the comic, moving from one panel to the next as well as focusing in on specific parts of the panel. You can also move around the pages yourself and zoom in to chance out the detail and nuance in each panel. I really liked this because you really get to dig into the detail. If you read comics regularly, sometimes you find yourself dumbstruck by the composure of a panel -- the use of lines or color to tell a story within a single panel.

The player allows for bookmarks as well as MP3 playback while reading through your downloaded books. I asked whether or not publishers could embed soundtracks or effects into books to be played while the reader moves through panels. It's certainly possible, but no publisher has done this yet.

With a growing catalog of titles being readied for the release of the service, Sony has a chance here to really open up the accessibility of comics as well as make some solid coin on back issues. I admit that sometimes I get terribly frustrated by hunting down issues to complete a story arc I've started. Having an entire narrative in one place is very appealing. Look for more information on the service later this year as Sony nears the December release date.